


The Change

by Krembearry



Series: My Clan Lore [1]
Category: Flight Rising
Genre: F/M, Heartbreak, Minor Violence, i love them so much this pained me to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 09:33:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4559589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krembearry/pseuds/Krembearry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ersoo and Pala head out to try and figure stuff out about the heir. Neither of them come back from the journey quite the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Change

**Author's Note:**

> do you ever get mad at yourself for hurting your own children

They walked.

 

It had been a long time since they’d seen the rest of the clan, but it didn’t bother them so much. A week was nothing in the life of a dragon. Besides, there were responsible ones left in charge. Ostif and Hoowa weren’t the best choices, though they were the ones that others always thought of, because they were from her first clutch.

 

Ersoo stopped walking and smacked her tail on the ground. Immediately, her Guardian laid down, gazing at her with thinly veiled adoration. Ersoo was trying to look serious, so when she caught his eye through the mask he wore, she huffed, and butted his shoulder with her head. Pala let out a soft laugh from deep in his chest before he lay his head next to her, wondering what she had to say.

 

It was a few moments before she could think of how to phrase it. She never had a knack for serious topics like this, and he knew it, patiently waiting. He never rushed her, and she was thankful. Ersoo eventually shook herself, signalling she was ready, and settled down beside the expansive mass of her mate.

 

“Do you think this was a good idea?”

 

Pala doesn’t say anything. He perks his fins, inquiring.

 

“I mean, this journey. You said after travelling for so long, you learned about yourself. You figured things out, as if they all fell into place, listening to the wind and seeing where it took you. I… I’m not sure if this is good for me.” She scratched at the grass they lay on, reaching the soft soil underneath. Pala bumped her paw with his chin, making her leave the grass alone.

 

“Thoughts are difficult, my darling charge. I find it easier to think out in the open, away from all those you are considering. As much as everyone would like to say we lead as a couple, it is you who is the true leader of the clan. If you are truly considering stepping down, you must make this decision.” He flicked his tail up to pull his mask aside, making sure she could see his face. “I will support you through any decision you make, even if that decision would be one of the more undesirable choices, like Myeloma.” She laughed and bumped his jaw with her soft muzzle.

 

“I won’t, okay? She’s hardly material for a leader anyway. She smelled too much like blood, and no one would listen to her out of respect, only from fear.” Ersoo moved to press flush against his side, listening to his giant heart beat. It soothed her through this tough decision. “Maybe one of our children? Winter or Sofel are so lovely.” She sighed, then shook her head. “Oh, but they’re Guardians. One day they’ll need to head off for their Search and I can’t have the responsibilities of Clan Leader hovering over their heads and battling with their hearts. A leader like that can’t lead a stable clan.”

 

Pala placed his beard on top of her head as soon as she started snuffling at her tail. It was always a sign she would start acting irrationally, and they needed to be logical now. She was probably already pushing herself. His poor mate never had to think this hard. Leading a clan came naturally to her, treating every clanmate like her own hatchling, even those who had moved from other clans. She shook his beard off her head and nibbled at it, causing him to gasp and use a claw to push it into his sight, checking for damage. She giggled again and lay her head down, eyes closed and enjoying the sun.

 

“Maybe someone else. An older clan member, but not too old. If I was to appoint Maisri or Izumrud, they wouldn’t last long. They’d want to retire too, just as I do. We need someone with a powerful mate, or no mate at all. Oh, fiddle, we can’t ask Zdunich to do it. Poor dear has so much weight on her shoulders.” Pala’s patient ears listened to her ramble on. Ersoo rubbed her face against his shoulder absently.

 

“Rainwhisker is so mature. Maybe too mature. I can’t expect her to assist with hatchlings, she hates hatchlings, as much as she lies about it. Ooh, maybe Summerstep! No, she’s much too immature. Rose is too busy with her, he’d forget about the clan. He already forgets about himself.” Ersoo lets her head droop, rolling over onto her back. RoseTooth was always making sure Summer got enough, giving and giving, but he forgot to take care of himself a lot. He was always blaming himself for her mental regression. Everyone knew it was just the course of fate, but he thought he wasn’t a good Guardian. She couldn’t have that sort of self-confidence issue as the face of the clan.

 

Suddenly Pala raised his head, wing dropping to cover Ersoo. His mask was over his face in a flash as his mate fell silent under his wing. Something was wrong. Pala’s fins twitched as he strained to pick up the wrong sound as something clanged off his shoulder armor. Immediately he was on his feet, deep breath in, and he roared, a terrifying sound that almost shook Ersoo, though she knew she was always safe from his wrath. Her gentle claw touched his arm fin, and he glanced at her, before flaring his tough wings and flapping to dissuade their attackers.

 

“Talonok.”

 

The single word was that signal that finally broke through her feeling of safety. She remembered her birthclan, the screaming, the smell of fear and blood. She already had fear in her, and she couldn’t bear to have that smell of blood follow. Pala would never let her get hurt, and she knew that would lead to his downfall. He roared again, then shrill voices began speaking quick, and Ersoo managed to pick out one of them from where it was hovering, and pointing.

 

Pointing at…

 

Pointing at her?

 

Ersoo drew her eyebrows together for just a second, then shut her eyes, clearing her mind of all the doubts, the fear, everything. Pala was the muscle around her as she meditated, scratching and snapping at every Raptorik that dared get close. Ersoo opened her eyes a bit later, runes floating around her and she bent them, twisting the magic how best she knew. She yelled and knocked down a few with the blast of wind that came screaming from her throat. Panic started to set in as she smelled that copper scent she hated so much, but she just shut her eyes as runes twisted around her, forcing herself to blank out her mind again so she could grasp those elusive glyphs.

 

Blood spattering across her nose broke her concentration. Ersoo shook and opened her eyes, confirming her fear. Pala stood in front of her, fighting as he’d always trained, protecting her. Already he was tired, his enormous form unable to move quite quick enough to catch the terrible beasts that just kept cutting, cutting, cutting…

 

Ersoo’s ears trembled, the only real sign of her true fear. They’d never been overtaken so quickly, always had Corninth so that there was a better chance, but this? She’d never seen so many Talonok in her life. She’d never seen Pala with so many injuries, either. Even when they spent hours fighting in the Arena, he’d never gotten so hurt. Her breath started to pick up and she knew she was getting hysterical. Ersoo rolled her snout on the ground, trying to scrape the blood _off, off get off of me why is there so much there shouldn’t be so much-_

 

She was breathing too quickly when a weight settled around her. Pained roars shook her body back into focus and she struggled to get her breath to listen to her. She just needed to breathe. She could feel Pala’s battle-heated tail curled around her, bringing comfort even as he fought for his life. Silently, she thanked the Windsinger and Tidelord for such a kind Guardian before she finally settled her eyes shut and cleared her mind. She had enough breath to see the runes again, frantically grasping them in the only moves she knew that could save them.

 

First was to restore her mate’s power. She focused on his body and mind, finding every injury and pushing in a grand exhale to stitch the wounds together. Most of the smaller ones were gone, but bigger ones remained. She didn’t have enough breath left in her lungs to cast another healing spell and her offense, and she could always heal Pala again later. She had to cast quickly, now, needing to exhale again so she could breathe normally.

 

Winds started whipping the grass. Pala realized what she was doing and ducked down and away, leaving her open. Nothing could get too close, the winds most concentrated around her body. She finally opened her eyes and her vision sat different, seeing the magical signature of the Raptorik in the sky, Corven in the grass, all those enemies sitting around her. She focused on every one of them, then channeled the rage she held into the wind, the anger of them hurting her most beloved. The wind broke and whipped away in little twisters, snatching up the Talonok and tearing them away from the mated pair.

 

As soon as they were gone, hot tears started pouring down Ersoo’s face and she stood, legs shaking. She could barely stand to look at Pala like this, blood soaking the grass as he finally fell to the ground. Ersoo shut her eyes again and began to meditate, just needing a little more, just enough to soothe him. A flicker of wind that she didn’t cause ruffled her mane and she was struck with an unfamiliar feeling.

 

Was that… pain?

 

It was pain, and it was searing.

 

Ersoo wailed as she felt blood quickly coat her shoulder. Pala launched into action, snapping down on her assailant, grinding the Raptorik between his teeth to make them suffer before they died in his maw. He stared down at Ersoo, and though he worried about her all the time, it was never anything like this. He was so big, had so much blood, and a wound like that on him was nothing. But her small, scaleless body had no protection, nothing to stop the blood from staining her white fur nearly black. Pala could see her ears were already pale. The Guardian blanched at the implications, and he wondered how deep the wound really was before he threw off his mask and cradled her into it, lifting it in his claws and pounding his wings to get them back to the clan. On foot, the journey had taken them a week, but they weren’t really trying to cover ground. With his powerful wings, it should only take a few hours.

 

He wondered if that was fast enough as a quick glance showed him a major portion of his mask was dampened.

 

\----

 

QuickFlight and Vinerun were on high alert, since Pala never flew unless it was important, like someone was wounded, or if Ersoo wanted to fly around. Ersoo wasn’t beside him though, and the way he cradled his mask against his chest showed them to prepare. The ground trembled as he landed, hatchlings flocking towards Pala’s massive warmth. Izumrud is quick to use her wings to guide them back to the nursery, telling them Maisri found some new familiars and maybe one will want to bond with them.The hatchlings take off running, and QuickFlight gives the Ridgeback a nod.

 

Pala places the Roc skull onto the ground, explaining what happened in detail as Vinerun’s golem does a scan of infection. The Mirror sweeps away the blood with the bandages wrapped around his tail and it causes Ersoo to groan.

 

“She’s conscious, but just barely. Thank the Singer, too, if she had passed out I couldn’t guarantee anything.” Both Guardians growl at the Mirror for his words, but Vinerun just shrugs and gets to disinfecting the wound.

 

Pala feels like he waits hours, pacing around above the lair, whining and wanting for his mate. He knows it’s going to be fine. QuickFlight’s charge is the clan, and Ersoo is the head of that. She wants Ersoo to be okay just as much as he does. Even so, he just digs at the grass and tries to ignore Zdunich perched like a vulture on top of her mound, almost out of sight. He doesn’t ever want to bring Ersoo to Zdunich to take care of. The thought sends a shiver through him that he hasn’t ever felt before. Since their clan started, Ersoo hadn’t felt a wound like this. This was bad, so bad, too bad, bad bad bad bad-

 

A sweet smell entered his nose and Pala actually calmed for a second. Then he tensed, unsure what the smell was. He didn’t have his mask on, so it was easy to find the intruder of his senses.

 

“It’s jasmine. It does wonders for when you’re anxious, and it looks like it worked.” Such a small sweet voice matched the small bundle of flowers she held. HoneyFeather hovered in front of him and gave him a smile as calming as the scent.

 

“Thank you, Honey. It helps, I’m just, nervous, is all. I don’t want her ever to be hurt, I’m sure you know.” Pala finally sits down and Honey sits back on her haunches next to his head, barely reaching his ear with her long body.

 

“I know you’re worried. I get worried a lot too. Never worried more than I did about my first clutch. I have to repeat their names every day, and I’m always so worried I might forget them. I can’t forget Sunspirit, since he lives right here with us. And you can’t forget Ersoo either. Not because she’s going to be gone, because she won’t be. She’ll be at your side, forever, and a little wound like this won’t keep her down.” Pala opened his mouth and she laid a small hand on his cheek. “No, Pala, I know. It wasn’t a small wound, it was horrid, I saw, but you know that she’s going to be okay. Our clan has survived worse, and this is hardly something that can take down our strongest.”

 

He wants to protest, wants to be a pessimist, but he knows she’s right. He looks at Zassinstav and Dorechzor, sitting together under a nearby tree, still trying to relearn each other. After so much heartbreak, such a complicated story bending their hearts, they still pushed on, and even they weren’t as strong as Ersoo. She had lived through every horror right along each and every single clanmate. Finally, Pala nods at Honey, and she smiles. The Spiral buzzes her wings, making a hum, and flits to her garden, plucking flowers and gently placing them on the end of the Guardian’s nose, speaking each name and meaning aloud.

 

“Honeysuckle, for your bonds of love. Holly, for hope. Lavender, for devotion. Hmm, some more honeysuckle since it’s so sweet. That should definitely help. And finally, willow. For sadness.” Pala raises his eyeridges at her final choice. Right before the willow hits his nose, she snatches it away. “Nope, on second thought, you can’t have that one. No sadness for you.” She grins at him, and Pala can’t help but grin back. His little friend always manages to cheer him up when Ersoo isn’t around, and she’s pulled through again. Vinerun peeks his head out of the lair and his golem chirps, alerting Pala of his presence. The Guardian is standing before he can even say that Ersoo is ready to see him.

 

Pala almost has tunnel vision, rushing through the main den of the lair, shoving past others to race to his mate. He knows where she is, that she needs him, that _he_ needs _her_ and that his legs aren’t getting him there fast enough-

 

He’s panting at her nestside, shaky breath showing his obvious worry. Ersoo’s face is white, but it doesn’t look unhealthy. In fact, there are white patches covering her, and Pala realizes he never realized she was a little bit yellow. The bleached parts of skin and fur show him what her true color had been. He snaps his eyes to hers, forcing him to look away from the differences. It takes a second for her eyes to focus, and her pained look melts into one of happiness.   
  


“Oh, Pala, you came to see me!” Her throat is scratchy, but she’s talking, and Pala knows Honey was right. His mate is going to be fine.

 

“Of course I did, my love. I couldn’t bear to be away from you a second longer, once I knew you wanted to see me.” He paws his way closer, slowly inching with his massive feet like he’s sneaky. He wants to be closer, to see the damage. QuickFlight nudges his shoulder and stops him from moving. Ersoo coos and Pala gives Quick an apologetic look as he places his paw near Ersoo’s head. She lays her bottom jaw flat across it and sighs, soaking up the warmth of her mate. QuickFlight knows Ersoo isn’t going to talk much right now, so she fills in the silence.

 

“I’m sorry about her fur. The medicine we had was a fickle thing. It heals almost instantly, forwards the wound about 6 months, but it takes pigment as it does so.” Her deft claws reach up and Pala can’t help but notice how much more delicate the smaller Guardian’s hands are. Her fingers are slender like a Skydancer and he isn’t surprised she’s able to do medical work. His large paws seem brutish in comparison, and they are. He doesn’t mind. He’s meant to protect, not to heal. QuickFlight adjusts the bandage over Ersoo’s arm and glances at Pala before she pulls it away, revealing a horrible scar. He feels like the wind has been knocked out of his lungs at the view.

 

“Oh, my darling, my dear sweet Ersoo, what have I allowed?” Pala’s fins flatten in shame and he pulls back his paw, realizing how terribly he’d done his job. He almost doesn’t feel worthy to touch his charge, but he can’t bear to leave. His mate looks up at him, then stretches out her right arm to silently ask for his paw back. He doesn’t like the thought of touching Ersoo when he’s done so badly, but he still gives her his hand without hesitance. He can’t disappoint her again.

 

“You didn’t allow this. You did your best to prevent it, but you can’t be 100% perfect, Pala. It’s been years since we got together, you can’t expect to not have me get hurt once in all these years. Your streak had to end at some point. And look! Now my skin matches my hair!” She bends her neck to look at her body, grinning. Pala can feel his heart melt at her innocent happiness. She’s always seen the best in the bad things, and Pala knew she’d do it again. He smiled and knew she wasn’t disappointed at all. Pala nuzzled his little Tundra and sighed, agreeing that her hair does match her fur. They just snuggle noses together for a while, and somehow Pala ends up curled around her, despite QuickFlight’s attempts to keep them apart. The protector shoots the doctor sorry looks until the doctor groans and leaves to keep herself from Pala apologies. He even whispers an “I’m sorry” as she walks out, which only makes her flick her tail and groan at him again. He grins guiltily and looks at Ersoo, who has her face scrunched as though she has a secret.

 

“Heti, I had a dream while they were working on me. The Windsinger was there. The Windsinger! Can you imagine that? Well, the Windsinger, he had all these flowers and he kept saying their names over and over again, until I realized he was spelling something to me. It was the name of the heir, oh, my heti, and he was using flowers to say it! And now I know something very important.” Pala’s fins had stood stock upright from the first mention of the Windsinger, and now he leaned forward, listening to every one of Ersoo’s excited words.

 

“They were born in our sister clan!”

 


End file.
